"Officially, Dell hasn't said a word yet about which Linux it will be preloading on its desktops and laptops. Several sources within Dell, however, have told DesktopLinux.com that Dell's desktop Linux pick is going to be Ubuntu. While unable to confirm this through official Dell channels, we have heard the same story now from several internal Dell sources. They tell us that the computer giant will be preinstalling the newly released Ubuntu 7.04. These systems will be released in late May 2007."

If this is true, it will put Ubuntu in a near unassailable position of dominance in the desktop Linux arena. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it will force the industry to consolidate support for Ubuntu and perhaps focus the efforts of developers towards a major platform with the other distros having to fall in line [with Ubuntu technical decisions] in order to keep up.

This is not necessarily a bad thing as it will force the industry to consolidate support for Ubuntu and perhaps focus the efforts of developers towards a major platform with the other distros having to fall in line [with Ubuntu technical decisions] in order to keep up.

Isn't that completely against the philosophy and point of Linux, that is, to have choice rather than be hard handed into what one organisation believes is right?

I don't really know if I would trust Ubuntu of all groups to make technical decisions that the other distributions feel they need to just accept to keep up.

There's always place for a variety but mainstream market doesn't want too much of that. One distro dominance could force other major players to play along. I'd be glad if that distribution was Ubuntu, it seems to me consolidation of Debian derivatives would be way easier than Red Hat derivatives. Suse and Mandriva forked ages ago and had their own big ambitions while Ubuntu is just a spoon (? ) of Debian.

Rise of even one alternative operating system is a good thing anyway, it will open a way for others since developers will have to take cross-platform design seriously. But this is a matter of years so I'll stop my fantasizing.

Yes, indeed. Those of us who have been using Linux for a few years have seen distros rise and fall in popularity. Whenever one gets popular many people would say, rightly so, that it would be just like the last distro du jour and fade in popularity as the next one takes it's place.

But we all assumed that as Linux got more popular it would reach a tipping point. And I suspected that whichever distro was lucky enough to be on top at that moment would be cemented at the top.

It would somehow (!) be a bad thing.
Ubuntu lacks many important security features as some have commented on another Ubuntu news.
Imo you should be asked during installation if you want to install that additional security features there are existing.

So what security features does Fiesty have?

SELinux, ExecShield, ELFDH, RKMA, Smash Stack, etc. ?

AFAIK Ubuntu has only SELinux, but you are not asked if you want to run it.

I think with that with such a huge push into the desktop market, Canonical and th Ubuntu devs should push for security. We need more user friendly firewall software, we need something like selinux. We don't want to get caught with our pants down when some other distro user decides that Ubuntu is evil or something and hacks some sort of exploit. That would not only tarnish Ubuntu's image, but also the OSS community in general. It would be Ubuntu's fault though since security should always take priority, especially in Linux which prides itself on its Unix heritage.

Wait, it will be available for the desktop and that too from one manufacturer. A tiny, humble step.

Red Hat and SUSE are the distros of choice for enterprise still and will be so for a good time.

Standards are the only way to solve incompatibility problems. Don't worry, they will be here sooner or later because everyone ( developers, Linux foundation) realizes where the problems are. In the mean time let's congratulate one major PC supplier for taking the bold step and refrain from criticizing them for not choosing <someone's favourite> distro. They had to make a choice.

Yes, that's right! I have received a Fu Long box from Lemote for a port of Slackware to Loongson. I have just started building the base packages using LFS instructions in a chroot under the Debian system that comes with the box.

I hope that I can directly boot the Slackware system when I am finished, but I am more concerned with building all packages for now.

I have optimised all packages for Loongson with -march=r4600 since I figured the last little-endian MIPS processors are very old ones used in DECstations and Cobalt I'd better optimise the hell out of it to make it run well.

I would be prepared to make ports for big-endian MIPS as used in SGI machines or PA-RISC as well but I cannot find or afford those with reasonable processor speed so if someone sends me some I will do those as well.

You can run Debian, Gentoo or a recompiled Slackware on older processors though.

I still run IRIX on my SGIs, but I know gentoo and BSDs can run on there and be very usable (I think slack and debain are the other 2 popular choices).

Keep your eyes open for higher end indys, they're going for dirt cheap nowadays. If you need compile help/speed, drop me an email, I have a 8cpu origin 2000 rack with a few gigs of RAM that should tear thru compiling once I get it running properly.

I still run IRIX on my SGIs, but I know gentoo and BSDs can run on there and be very usable (I think slack and debain are the other 2 popular choices).

It would be very nice to be able to run IRIX but unfortunately I have never been able to afford an SGI machine. Even on auction sites people ask too much for older SGIs that will compile very slowly.

And looking at second hand Fuel and Tezro machines I can conclude those are completely out of reach from what I have seen. Maybe you can tell me where I could find a suitable machine for now.

Keep your eyes open for higher end indys, they're going for dirt cheap nowadays. If you need compile help/speed, drop me an email, I have a 8cpu origin 2000 rack with a few gigs of RAM that should tear thru compiling once I get it running properly.

If you could get me an account on that machine I would appreciate it very much. And of course I could assist you if you want to help me compiling the software.

Does IRIX have virtualisation such as VMware or Xen? That would make it a lot easier to get things up and running side-by-side otherwise the system will have to be compiled in a chroot while running on another Linux system, probably Debian.

Thanks for your offer to help and tell me what you think about it. Slackware has the potential to be as portable as Debian and Gentoo with even higher stability and today's fast hardware makes it only easier to get it up and running.

BTW do you know where or how to get reasonably fast Alpha and PA-RISC machines that are not too expensive? I live in the Netherlands and cannot easily find those on the internet.

Hats off to open source for accomodating all that was before and all that is.

That's the reason that I have been able to get basic Slackware running on the processor/machine in only the last six days.

Are their native apps (SGI, DECstation etc)available under linux (and are free or compiled for MIPS)? I am asking that because vendors like SGI now support linux.

As far as I know most of the unique interesting things that run on those machines are closed source applications for Ultrix but all other open source can of course be recompiled for Linux.

SGI MIPS processors are supposedly big-endian and the Loongson processor is a little-endian MIPS III (and extensions) compatible processor. So that would need its own MIPS port. But it wouldn't be very difficult to do, especially after getting this MIPSEL port done.

Unless these machines are no longer used for their former purposes. So is there a repo for apps like openoffice for these platforms? Just asking out of curiosity.

The box runs a Chinese version of Debian at the moment and it runs GNOME and includes OpenOffice.org 2.0.4, Sun Java and all other software you have got used to from Linux except architecture specific closed-source software such as Flash and codecs, which should be banned in this modern day and age of multi architecture software.

Lemote will send me the patch that has enabled OpenOffice.org 2 to run on MIPS. Then I will probably try to build OpenOffice.org 2.2 for Loongson. But I'm putting that off until I get Slackware completely up and running.

You have to define superior. Fedora seems to have more features (security, management, etc.) and polish (in some areas), but Ubuntu has better package management and a stronger community. I bet that the community aspect was among the top considerations that Dell made, given that they do not want to provide commercial support for Linux.

Ubuntu has the ingredients to be a better distribution than any other, but with a full-time staff of a few dozen, they're limited in what they can actually accomplish. With some gravy from Dell, that could all change.

Shuttleworth said there were going to be two major announcements this week. I guessed Sun and Dell partnerships. It looks like one will come true. If the other does, then things are really looking up for Ubuntu.

I tend to agree with you that Red Hat is a better OS, but from a business perspective I think Ubuntu is a better choice. Many of Dell's potential Linux customers will not afford the prices of a Red Hat subscription, and going the Red Hat road would result in less buyers.

Besides, if Dell runs Ubuntu, they will most likely run Red Hat as well, and I imagine we will see more Linux vendors than Canonical to certify their Linux versions to run on these boxes.

The important thing is that somebody like Dell actually ships boxes with Linux preinstalled and fully supported. This makes a very loud signal to hardware vendors to pay more attention to the Linux market.

Now if only HP and Lenovo could follow Dells example. If they do, I hope they will go for Ubuntu as well even if Ubuntu isn't my favorite distro. Having one dominating desktop Linux flavor would make it easier to convince companies like e.g. Adobe or Autodesk to port their software to Linux and that is more important in the long run than having boxes shipping with my favorite Red Hat. Linux distros tend to get more and more alike these days anyway, so I can probably learn to live with Ubuntu too.

Anyone who wants to install Ubuntu on a Dell machine can do so pretty easily. Anyone who doesn't have any urge to use Linux as their primary OS is going to stick with Windows. This is, however, a great step in terms of support. I've been running Ubuntu on my Inspiron 6000 for the past 3 years or so, and I've only had one hardware related problem. The Dell tech support people wanted me to boot into their diagnostic utility located on some obscure HDD partition (which I'd deleted), and they told me they could only offer support for Windows. If Dell supports any kind of Linux, this will be great for hardware support. If this product line falls flat on its face, well... there's always System76.

With Ubuntu making substantial improvements every three months, will Dell always sell their laptops with the latest version? Or will they stick with the same distro for a while (for support reasons) and everyone will end up reformatting the thing again!?

It's unlikely Dell will be able to keep up with the rigorous development pace. I also doubt they'll offer OS *support* beyond basic hardware compatibility. The notion that *new* hardware will ever be 100% compliant with Linux is a pipe dream for the foreseeable future (and not Dell's fault, either.)

The single most important outcome of Dell offering Ubuntu (along with RHEL I believe) is that this *will* put pressure on hardware vendors to be more considerate of Linux. The outcome of this is a win for all linux users regardless of their distro of choice.

When you get an OEM installed Windows system you need to run windows update to be on the latest version as well. An Dell and other OEM's always spend some time testing before it will start to ship systems with new servicepacks when they are released for Windows.

With almost any Linux distribution today it is quite easy to upgrade to the latest release. With Ubuntu an upgrade to a later relese can be done by using the graphical update utility. Launch it with the -c option like this:

gksu “update-manager -c ”

And it will present you an option to upgrade to the latest release. E.g NO need to reformat and reinstall.

Also, I suspect that if this become a success for Dell then Dell will probably get involved in Ubuntu development. Testing as development work on the "next release" is in progress. Hopefully Dell can post patches to fix issues with Dell hardware compability as development is progressing. And the result is a quick test period to verify/certify the new release and then ship to customers.

Yes, because they will sit down on a Linux computer and all will be solved, correct?

That is, until they buy some perephrial that doesn't work with Linux and the computer ends up with either a retail or pirated version of Windows on it a few days later. Or they try to play DVDs and have to compile libdvdcss, which for me is easy enough but which is far from easy for joe user.

According to the page you just linked to, Linspire's DVD software requires Linspire 4.5 and up. I know it may have been easy to miss the fact we're talking about Ubuntu here. I mean, it is ONLY in the title of the story and plastered all over the summary and all.

{According to the page you just linked to, Linspire's DVD software requires Linspire 4.5 and up. I know it may have been easy to miss the fact we're talking about Ubuntu here. I mean, it is ONLY in the title of the story and plastered all over the summary and all. }

"According to the page you just linked to, Linspire's DVD software requires Linspire 4.5 and up. I know it may have been easy to miss the fact we're talking about Ubuntu here. I mean, it is ONLY in the title of the story and plastered all over the summary and all."

The software is sold through CNR, and will soon be available on multiple distros, including Ubuntu.

What I gather from my own (brief) experience and many of the reviews I've read, Ubuntu's release schedule does not permit complete testing of their distro. And if it's not tested, then it's probably broken.

Support is also going to be a nightmare. Does Dell support people who install third-party (potentially illegal) stuff from the Restricted and Universe repositories? Does Dell support it if the Ubuntu folks break a serious number of machines with a point update? I just don't think Ubuntu is disciplined enough as an engineering team. Debian might be better (especially with all the news we're seeing here).

If memory serves, the support cycle for LTS is 3 years on the desktop and 5 on the server, if Dapper is any indication. I think this provides a very good opportunity for _all_ the prominent Linux OS's, not just Ubuntu. It will then be a matter of seeing if Dell's project comes to fruition. Mainly one of two things will happen: either it DOES take off (which, as i said, would be beneficial for Linux in general) or it DOESN'T, and we're back to where we are.

Oh, and also:
"...though being a Ubuntu User its pretty Buggy if i say so myself so IMO this would be a stupid move by Dell if they were to do that".

I think Michael Dell pretty much knows what he's doing; after all, he's the one running his company, not us.

Dell customers will soon have the option of having a quality OS installed, and that will have a great effect on Linux marketshare. Software developers should be making Linux versions of their software, or risk losing customers.

Dell preinstalling Linux isn't going to result in hordes and hordes of new converts. Dell will still offer Windows XP/Vista on all of their computers, and the vast majority of people will simply pick Windows in the OS selection menu.

Also, the words: "Dell recommends Windows Vista Ultimate" or whatever will still be plastered all over their site.

I've been hearing for years that Linux will steadily decrease Windows' marketshare, yet thusfar the results haven't exactly been major. The dent Linux has caused in Microsoft's marketshare is about as damaging as a slight rounding error, and Microsoft is raking in record revenues and profits. In-fact, Vista, which is allegedly pushing everyone to Linux, caused Microsoft to beat their own guidance profit-wise to the tune of half a billion dollars, which is no chump change, even for Microsoft. Of course, arguing about what will happen is kind of pointless. Let's just wait and see.

Of course, I can't help but be skeptical, considering every single year since the late 90's has been "the year of the Linux desktop", when nothing has really changed.

XP pre-SP1 was an absolute piece of garbage that should never have been released, and yet Microsoft is still dominant today.

In the corporate market, I'm not disputing Linux is becoming an attractive option. However, my side-job is doing computer repairs for home users, and 99% of my clients will run their XP computers until it is so unusable that it takes 15 seconds to even open the start menu due to all the spyware and viruses (the main cause is them not doing their updates and not updating their security software), and yet they flat-out refuse to even give Linux a test-run. It's as if they are addicted to Windows. A few glitches in Vista is simply not going to make people like this switch.

Based on my own experience, Linux does not stand a chance in the home market, and will, at best, be a niche competitor, much like OS X.

Also, OS X is increasing its marketshare in large part due to their large advertising campaigns. The only advertising I ever see for Linux is on geek websites that the majority of people don't visit, and is mainly for server solutions. Advertising is more important than most people think, and again, unless Linux gets a large advertising campaign like Apple's (which is unlikely, considering Apple spends more on advertising than Canonical has in cash-on-hand, Novell is hemmoraging cash and has always been horrible at marketing, and Red Hat doesn't seem to care much about the home user market), the situation won't change.

To ramble on a bit more, if Canonical was smart, they would take advantage of Youtube for viral marketing, but they haven't yet bothered to do that.

now why would redhat be worried? no one will beat redHat on Server market , Oracle tried an failed, correct me if im wrong, so did mandrake.Mandriva, they failed all Ubuntu may Win is Desktop , though being a Ubuntu User its pretty Buggy if i say so myself so IMO this would be a stupid move by Dell if they were to do that

You sound like a IBM fanboy in the early nineties talking about Microsoft being buggy and nobody will ever use Windows on the server Guess what ... Winning the desktop opens A LOT of doors.

im not a IBM fanboy, just telling it like it is, i use Ubuntu7.04 myself untill Fedora7 is final, an from my Point of Veiw is that Ubuntu is still to Buggy for the Desktop , IMO i think Fedora would be a better choice or Suse Ubuntu is like a newborn baby, still has its teething problems

As others as stated, the important thing is not the distro it will have. At the begining, only geeks will buy those computers, and will install their prefered distro.

What I'am happy about those new computers is that they will be linux compatible, whatever the distro is. Maybe the GPL will be protecting enough so the drivers for the included hardware will be included in the kernel. That way, whatever distro you want, you're sure it will work.

Obviously they would choose Ubuntu.
It's the new hip distro. Dell wants to ride on the back of that publicity wave.

My experiences with it have been fairly disappointing(disasters when doing a dist-upgrade, problems with ksudo not working on kbuntu, etc.) but it's much less work if you're install for an ex-Windows user who doesn't like having choice.
Nothing beats Gentoo for creating a system that works the way you told it to.

1) This product will NEVER make it onto Dell's front-page, and they will likely never advertise it on TV. This is being done to please existing customers who already use Linux (or to attract non-customers that use Linux), NOT to widely promote Linux as an alternative to Windows.

2) At best, it will be an additional option on SOME desktops, and the vast majority of users will ignore it and choose Windows.

3) It WILL cost more, guaranteed. This is because Dell receives kickbacks for the crapware they bundle on their PCs, which won't be happening on Linux anytime soon. So it won't even be available as a cheaper option for people who want to buy it, wipe it and install a pirated Windows. And no one is going to pay more for an OS they have never heard of before that won't run all the software they already own and know how to use.

Being realistic, Dell is doing this to please a small minority of their customers, and will do little to nothing to actually promote it to Joe Blow. As much as I want to see Linux succeed, I don't see this as being the major development a lot of people seem to think it is. I see it as primarily a publicity stunt.

Call me when, on computers that offer both Windows and Ubuntu, you see "Dell recommends Ubuntu Linux" or w/e. The only alternative OS I could see Dell pushing as a major alternative to Windows is Mac OS X, and the day when Apple licenses it to Dell is the day hell freezes over.

[sarcasm] Gee, the moderation system on this site is clearly working. Obviously my comment was trolling and my points have no basis in-fact whatsoever. I clearly deserved to be moderated down. [/sarcasm]

[cluebat] I regularily mod up people I disagree with if they have good points, and mod down people I do agree with if they are trolling or whatever. The mod system wasn't put in place to mod down people you don't agree with![/cluebat]

Don't worry overly. I find that sometimes some of my comments are modded down quickly. People who mod down for bad reasons tend to be pretty quick on the trigger. But give it a bit of time, and that majority of people who are fair and reasonable will usually correct the situation. Not always. But usually.

If you feel that you were moderated down unfairly, don't give the bastards that did it the satisfaction of knowing that you care. ;-)

The great thing about Ubuntu is that it doesn't need to be advertised. The Logo is easily recognizable, the slogan is easy to remember. They name the dev versions of the distro something catchy, and funny. The advertising and marketing behind Ubuntu is word of mouth. People are generally excited about the distro. How can Dell not try to tap into that. If Canonical works closely with Dell maybe we can have a more thoroughly tested release. The issue with Ubuntu is that its not as large as RedHat or Suse, they have a team of about 40 and usually run out of time every release. Things get deferred a lot in each release. Hopefully, they will get more developers. I also think that Ubuntu is different enough in terms of culture, that Dell wants to try something new.

I will personally purchase a laptop from them with ubuntu. I just wish they would have better designs on them. I like more sleek looking hardware and there stuff is pretty bulky. I'm more worried about the very short upgrade intervals. Maybe a yearly release will instead of a bi-yearly release at least with official releases with the second release being more an update and bug hunt release.

The great thing about Ubuntu is that it doesn't need to be advertised. The Logo is easily recognizable, the slogan is easy to remember. They name the dev versions of the distro something catchy, and funny. The advertising and marketing behind Ubuntu is word of mouth. People are generally excited about the distro. How can Dell not try to tap into that.

Step out of your geek-verse for a second and walk up to 20 random people on the street (unless you live in Silicon Valley of course :-P), show them the Ubuntu logo, and ask if they know what it is. You'll be lucky to get a single yes. When I mention advertising, I'm talking about advertising to the 99.5% of people that don't read sites like OSNews and Slashdot, and who also think Linux is a laundry detergent. Dell has 2 choices:

1) Don't advertise, and target that very small percentage of people who are familiar with Linux and Ubuntu and would be interested in their product. If this happens (which is very likely), then, like I said, they are simply doing this to please a small subset of customers.

2) Advertise to Joe User, and I simply don't see this happening. Too many support issues and customers that are pissed off when they buy a program at the store and it doesn't work. Apple has stores dedicated to selling hardware and software specifically for Macs, and I've still seen this exact same thing happen with Mac using friends. In my home city, I don't know of a single store that specializes in Linux that sells consumer level Linux software. F/OSS is lacking in some essential areas (I'm a big Apple supporter, and I'll concede Apple is lacking in some of these areas as well), such as tax software, CAD software, Photoshop, etc etc.

You say that advertising to Joe User wont happen but I think Dell will strike a middle ground. I've been seeing Dell appear at the top of Google advertising whenever I type in "Linux Laptop" for about the last month.

Yes they're targeting people who know about Linux but maybe they want to catch the market who is desperate to get away from Vista and they're looking at Linux and Apple as options. Only one of those lets Dell keep their customers.

I'm more worried about the very short upgrade intervals. Maybe a yearly release will instead of a bi-yearly release at least with official releases with the second release being more an update and bug hunt release.
This is what the LTS (Long Term Support) releases are for. Feisty was just released and Gutsy will be the next one. I read somewhere that the next LTS Ubuntu release will likely be Gutsy+1.

"I'm more worried about the very short upgrade intervals. Maybe a yearly release will instead of a bi-yearly release at least with official releases with the second release being more an update and bug hunt release."

I agree with you..I know the timing is very important in order to 'combat' Vista and Leopard and get Ubuntu out to market, however the LTS thing is an issue that so many Linux distros face-- either use an old version of GNOME like Red Hat and Debian etch do, or have really nice features like Feisty Fawn has, and have a few more bugs. Then you have to upgrade. But in any case, Feisty Fawn will be supported for 18 months so hopefully the upgrade process will be more tested; people don't have to upgrade right away (in fact I'd be surprised if Dell doesn't have their own repositories to holds back upgades until tested)

It doesn't really matter what distro Dell places on their boxes. If it works for Ubuntu then I know the hardware support is good for Redhat and other linux distros since the kernels, Gnome and KDE are very similar. It is nice to know I could buy a Dell box and just install Redhat or CentOS on it. It seems like a win for Desktop Linux in general.

It is only good for linux distros if end users who are new to Linux have a good experience from it - if they get burned by Dell in any way, it will likely set back linux in general for some time, as it can be very hard to rebuild a reputation once it has been torn down. I would be a bit nervous about this if I were Mr. Shuttleworth.

Ubuntu is a very good distro, but their release cycle is too aggressive and it isn't tested thoroughly enough IMO. Instead of having a release every six months, they should move to an annual release schedule, and focus on quality control. Having played around with 7.04 for a bit, there are a number of glaring problems where it is quite obvious no-one actually tested particular features before release, such as camera support, where any noob to Linux would be really put off by the experience of dealing with things like that.

Dell would be wise to stick with 6.10 rather than 7.04, as it at least has been stabilised, while 7.04 is a bit bleeding edge and unfinished at this stage.

Actually, I'm finding that hardware support, in the form of non-standard and/or (gasp!) non-free drivers, makes a difference. For example, my laptop works happily with the old rt2500 driver. I haven't tried the very latest rt2x00 driver, but the version in the Fedora development kernels of about three weeks ago did not work. Ubuntu includes the old rt2500 driver so wireless works out of the box on my laptop. With Fedora, I have to compile the driver myself. For the newbie, this is a clear Ubuntu win. On my desktop machine, the wireless card requires the Atheros driver. Again, Ubuntu just works, whereas with Fedora I have to either go hunting for an old kernel for which the required modules have already been created (ATrpms to the rescue) or compile myself. As long as the distro chosen by Dell supports the hardware on which it's being offered, its a win for Linux, GNU, freedom, Mom, apple pie, etc...

I am writing this from my new Lenovo R60 which I like very much, but I have to say I didn't even consider buying a Dell, but I had decided to buy a laptop a month or two from now, I would have seriously considered Dell just because I think it is important for consumers to vote with their dollars regardless of whether or not I am personally capable of installing Linux apparently I am as I am typing in Linux right now . Having said this, however, I still most likely would have gone for quality over OS choice as much of a zealot I might be, but I should think this should get Dell a few sales and perhaps enough to choose to advertise it.

Also, if I where to say recommend a laptop to my parents, preinstalled Linux, especially something like (K)umbuntu would be a huge plus, as I would not have to configure their computer for them as Linux is now superior to Windows for the web-browser genre of computer users.

Sure, Dell can ensure whichever linux distro it chose, it will be compatible, just like what Apple does. But, how about peripherals, e.g. my experience with printer. Or you only buy Dell printer, Dell scanner, Dell camera, Dell etc?

I like FreeBSD very much, but not as desktop environment. It's still a long way to go.

I guess Dell _would_ like that But HP and Epson printers and scanners work great. Otherwise, there's generally info on the ubuntuforums or wiki on how to get a specific peripheral working. Remember, this is the same OS that can run Windows wireless drivers...

Also, it's the chicken and egg thing again. If Linux gets more marketshare, it gets even more hardware support than it already has, hopefully.

Hehe, the solution to distro incompatibility are the lack of adequate standards, not the reduction of distros.

You think the distros you mentioned are the best for the tasks listed? Maybe so, but I am sure plenty of knowledgeable folks out there who would seriously disagree.

You forgot to mention Slackware, Linspire, Puppy, DSL. All (most major/well known) distros have something to offer. And others assimilate the good features in them. This leads to their betterment. This is evolution buddy, don't worry the notorius compatibility problem will be answered.

I think for the uninitiated( those who never used Slackware) Ubuntu will be a good choice. It offers enough gui tools for a windows user to feel they have some control over their system. It will mean that thaey have a large software pool to choose from and also allow flexibility with the DE the choose.. Gnome,Kde,Xfce4, Wmaker,Fluxbox, and even e17. Plus the fact that compiz/beryl is an easy install will give them all the eyecandy they could want. Its a good choice. however I really feel that this "winner of the desktop linux war", is just a bad idea for the community. It was never a war. It was a matter of choice, and I personally hate even hearing the argument.